Abstract

Saddletail snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus) is a commercially significant tropical species in Australia and has beenthe subject of consumer complaints of extreme toughness in cooked fillets. Textural and biochemical analyses includingcollagen and hydroxylysyl pyridinoline (PYD) cross-links concentrations were conducted on 101 commercially harvestedSaddletail snapper to identify causes of toughness. Fish age was found to account for 75.6% of observed variation incooked muscle texture (work done) of Saddletail snapper. A significant linear relationship (P < 0.001) between PYDcontent and cooked muscle texture was also identified accounting for 50.3% of observed variation. The concentration ratio of PYD to total collagen (TC) ranged from 0.04 to 0.38 mol PYD per mol of TC. Fish size was also found to be a poor indicator of fish age and therefore a poor indicator of the potential risk of toughness of the cooked muscle.